US-USREPORT Summary

Sep 23, 2011, 8:49 p.m.

Veteran U.S. swimmer starts Cuba-Florida trek

HAVANA (Reuters) - U.S. long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad jumped feet first into Cuba's azure waters on Friday in her latest attempt to become the first person to swim from the communist island to Florida without a shark cage. Nyad, 62, tried to make the 103-mile (166-km) crossing of the Florida Straits last month but was thwarted by asthma, shoulder pain and heavy seas.

Woman wins court order against 1972 Idaho abortion law

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - An Idaho woman prosecuted for terminating her own pregnancy with abortion pills she ordered online won a temporary court order on Friday barring enforcement of the decades-old law under which she was charged. But the federal judge in the case also rebuffed her separate bid to block a newly enacted state law that bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy unless there is proof the woman's life is in danger.

Loughner attorneys seek another emergency block on drugs

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Lawyers for Tucson shooting rampage suspect Jared Loughner filed an emergency petition on Friday with a federal judge who already has twice refused similar requests, asking him again to halt the forcible medication of their client with anti-psychotic drugs. In a 28-page filing, Loughner's defense team urged U.S. District Judge Larry Burns to order that the four-drug regimen administered involuntarily to Loughner be stopped immediately because it violates his constitutional due-process rights.

Hunting partner killed Nevada man during grizzly attack

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - An autopsy shows that a Nevada man believed to have been fatally mauled by a grizzly bear in northwestern Montana was instead shot and killed by his hunting partner, authorities said Friday. Steve Stevenson, 39, of Winnemucca, Nevada, was mauled on September 16 by a grizzly bear that had just been shot and wounded by Stevenson's friend, Ty Bell, 20, also of Winnemucca. Bell opened fire on the bear again when it turned on his buddy.

Judge allows evidence of sexual abuse by Johnson heir

MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - A Racine County circuit judge said on Friday he would allow the state to present evidence that Samuel Curtis Johnson III had admitted to a therapist that he sexually molested his stepdaughter. Johnson, 55, is the billionaire heir of the SC Johnson & Son fortune. He was charged with repeated sexual assault of his stepdaughter in March, and subsequently entered a plea of not guilty.

Officers kill mountain lion that clawed Idaho boy

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - A mountain lion that killed a family's dog and clawed a young boy near Boise, Idaho, has been killed by Idaho wildlife officers, authorities said on Friday. The 10-year-old boy and his father came face-to-face with the cougar while out on Thursday night searching their rural subdivision northeast of the state capital for their missing pet, Idaho Fish and Game Department officials said.

Judge more than doubles expenses Casey Anthony must pay

ORLANDO, Fla (Reuters) - A judge on Friday raised to $217,500 the total bill Casey Anthony must pay to compensate law enforcement agencies for lying in 2008 about the fate of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee. Anthony was acquitted in July of murdering Caylee but found guilty of sending investigators on an expensive wild goose chase for a nanny that Anthony claimed kidnapped Caylee.